Egyptian authorities on Tuesday
temporarily opened the Rafah crossing at its border with the Palestinian
territories of the Gaza Strip for Palestinians stranded at both sides.
(Xinhua Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
CAIRO, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian authorities on
Tuesday temporarily opened the Rafah crossing at its border with the Palestinian
territories of the Gaza Strip for Palestinians stranded at both sides, the
official MENA news agency reported.
Some 50 Palestinians, including patients, students
and workers, have already crossed into Egypt, a well-placed source at the
crossing was quoted as saying.
The Palestinian side has asked Egypt to open the
border crossing for three days, said the source.
More Palestinians are expected to enter Egypt in the
following two days, while Palestinians who received medical treatment in Egypt
will return to Gaza on July 3, the source added.
Egyptian authorities on Tuesday
temporarily opened the Rafah crossing at its border with the Palestinian
territories of the Gaza Strip for Palestinians stranded at both sides.
(Xinhua Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
Israel closed the Rafah crossing since June 2006 when
Palestinian militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier from his base outside Gaza,
but it allowed weekly opening of the crossings.
The Rafah crossing, the only Gaza passage to the
outside world that bypasses Israel, was completely closed in June 2007 when
Hamas routed security forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and took
over Gaza by force.
According to a U.S.-brokered deal in 2005, Abbas'
presidential guard forces were in charge of security at the crossing in addition
to European Union (EU) monitors. The two parties left the crossing following
Hamas bloody takeover of Gaza.
In some occasions, Egypt opened the crossing for
patients and some Hamas leaders who leave for talks in Cairo.
GAZA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Egypt on Tuesday reopened Rafah
border crossing point for three days to allow hundreds of stranded Palestinians
to cross into Egypt, a Hamas government official statement said.
The interior ministry of the deposed Hamas unity
government in Gaza said in a statement that Egypt reopened its border crossing
for hundreds of Palestinian travelers to cross into Egypt. Full story
GAZA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic Hamas movement
slammed Israel on Tuesday for closing all Gaza border crossings until a further
notice, saying it is a violation of an Egyptian-brokered truce agreement.
"The closure of the crossing points is a violation of
the truce and it is in fact obstruct the implementation the truce agreement,"
Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman told reporters in Gaza. Full story
JERUSALEM, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Israel closed its border
crossings with the Gaza Strip again on Tuesday following another rocket attack
from the Hamas-ruled enclave Monday evening.
Two Qassam rockets fired from the northern part of
the coastal strip landed in an open area in western Negev in south Israel,
causing no casualties or damage. No group has claimed responsibility for the
fourth such attack since the Egypt-brokered truce went into effect on June
19. Full story
